Pep Guardiola claimed that those who claimed Manchester City could go unbeaten in the Premier League this season were ‘selling an illusion’ after his side fell to their first defeat of the campaign at Chelsea.
Guardiola declared himself proud of how his City players had lost after goals from N’Golo Kanté and David Luiz either side of half time struck down the defending champions.
The defeat means City will end the weekend in second place behind new leaders Liverpool. Jurgen Klopp’s side supplanted City and moved a point clear at the top by winning 4-0 at Bournemouth on Saturday lunchtime.
Having been crowned champions with 100 points last term and dropping just four points this season before today, City going the whole campaign unbeaten did not appear beyond the realms of possibility.
Guardiola has always said that City will slip up at some point and brushed off their failure to remain invincible.
“Everybody asked me every time we won, last season the same” he said. “Yesterday you asked me in the press conference and I said that it is not going to happen. We are not here to be invincible, we are here to try to be champion.
“We have to make one point more than our opponents. At the moment Liverpool is better than us. When we win games in a row, I say be calm. A lot of teams have improved. Now, we are calm the same. Every player knows what he can do better. Move forward. It’s part of the competition.
“People say ‘unbeatable’. There is no sport in the world, no tennis, no basketball, no golf where one team wins. It does not happen. It is not a reality. When people say that they are selling an illusion.
“That is part of the process. You can lose, but how you lose... have we been like we normally are? Absolutely.
“We played the way we want to play. When the opponent is good, say congratulations and shake hands and improve for the next game.”
Guardiola refused to be drawn on whether he considered Liverpool to now be title favourites, instead claiming that several teams – including Chelsea – can retain ambitions of winning the league.
“Yesterday we were the favourites, in 24 hours it changed. You have to ask yourself,” he said.
“At the beginning I say to my players it will be tougher, that’s normal. We are at quite a similar level to last season, we have five points less but our level is quite similar. The opponents are stronger. Last season, we increased our Premier League level. The other teams try, that’s normal.
“We are in December. If you tell me Liverpool can win Premier League, I say yes. If you tell me Tottenham, Arsenal, Chelsea can win the Premier League, I say yes. But people judge what happened last season. Last season – sorry, we were the best. I will try it again.
“We did it so far. I wouldn’t like to misunderstand. I am sitting here and I try to tell you what I saw. What I saw is quite good, what we’ve done today.”
